Ten Seconds of Freedom
by Kamala
Summary: Reflection of the events after the movie by Dom.


**10 Seconds of Freedom**

by Kamala  
Dominic POV   
Rating- PG for Language  
Set after the Movie ends  
  
Disclaimers: Dom and the others belong to Universal and all that good stuff.

Note: Thanks to Ardath for the idea of a fatal spinal injury. Thanks to HCC Wed. Night Creative Writing class for all their wonderful suggestions. And the Vidcon Writer's Workshop for their suggestions.

**Two days after leaving LA.**

_"I live my life a quarter mile at a time. Nothing else matters, not the mortgage, not the store, not my team and all their bull shit. For those ten seconds or less I'm free."_

That was my creed, the rule I lived by until that night when I lost everything. Everything that mattered.

Look where it got me, some cheap ass motel room in Baja with a view of a brown desert, not even a fucking cactus in it. 

We failed in the truck hijacking. The mother lode that would have put Mia through another year of school. Money that would have let us take a break from it all. Money I needed to keep the garage and store going. Money for the team. For the cars. Money we all needed.

Looking back, I should have taken Mia's advice. Maybe she felt something would not go right or something, but no- I had to be stubborn and do it. I lost a lot because of my stubbornness.

Jesse dead.

Letty, injured but alive.

Vince was injured, maybe dead or worse, under arrest.

The one bright spot in all this was Brian. Yeah, it hurt knowing he was a cop who had wormed his way into my group and my sister's heart. But in the end, he let me go.

_"You know what you're doing?"_

_"I owe you a ten second car."_

It was the last thing he said to me. I respect him for having the courage to do what he did. 

I've lost my sister, the one person who was the constant in my life. I had to leave her behind to deal with the fallout of my mistakes, my arrogance. I know she can hold it together and be the b person she is. She was the glue that held us. The one person with a sense of right and wrong, who actually listened to it. What hurts me the most is that now she has to put her dreams on hold to deal with the mess our little dysfunctional family created. 

I lost my freedom. I'm not under arrest but I'm also not home–Baja, Mexico is home now. Not the worst place in the world but not where I really want to be either. And it doesn't look like I'll be going home soon, if ever.

If I could change it all, I would. 

But life is full of little ifs.

**One Week Later**

"Dom… it's Leon."

"Where the fuck are you two?"

"Dom, man I don't know how to tell you this…"

"Tell me what?"

"Letty's gone."

"Gone? WHERE?"

"Gone, Dom. Dom, she's dead!"

Everything stopped. Letty, my Letty, was gone. I sat staring at the dingy walls, the realization I would never see her again setting in.

"What? How…"

My voice breaking from the shock and grief.

"The doc said a fatal spinal injury. I swear, Dom, she seemed fine. Talkin' about how she was gonna go straight. It wasn't worth it any more. Then suddenly she starts shaking…really bad…then she was dead."

My beautiful Letty dead because of me. I wasn't there for her, to hold her, to comfort her.

"Where are you?"

"Los Angeles. I didn't know what to do, Dom. They told me she was dead. I just left."

"Does Mia…"

"I called her at the store. Cops are all over the place, Dom. The store, the shop, your house, watchin' waitin'. Man..."

"Stay cool, let me know what's going on, Leon."

I closed my cell phone and leaned against the worn headboard, staring at the dingy walls while trying to hold back the tears.

**Hours Later**

A few hours and several Coronas later, I got another call. From Mia.

"Dom."

"Mia, what's wrong?"

I did not have a good feeling about this call.

"V died, Dom," she said quietly. I could hear the tears in her voice. Another one of my family gone. 

Vince gone. We had been friends since third grade, and now he was gone.

"How?"

"He died from complications from surgery. I'm sorry, Dom."

I took a deep breath asking the one question. One I didn't want to ask. "How is it going for you?"

"Bad…cops are everywhere. I don't know where you are so I'm sure they will tap the lines or something."

"Brian?"

"I haven't seen him since Jesse. He's in trouble though. They're trying to get me to tell them where you are- to help Brian."

"Mia…"  
  


"I am scared, Dom. I don't know what to do or where to turn. They arrested Leon too."

I could hear her trying to keep control. My heart sinking even further.

"They said he aided and abetted by helping Letty get away."

"Shit."

"They're all over the store and shop."

"Get a lawyer if you have to."  
  


"I will. Dom, I have to go. Please be careful. I'll call when I can. I love you."

"I love you, too. Be careful."

She hung up, and I started to cry.

For Letty and V. The two people who had stood by me through all the crap in my life. 

For Mia, for all the trouble I made. 

What hurt was how she was holding it all together while I was in some stupid beach motel hundreds of miles away.

More of my family gone or in trouble. Because of my actions.

Brian-his deception hurt the most, more than Vince's death. Partly because I trusted him, partly because I thought of him as more than a team member, more like a brother. Then I realized he didn't have to do what he did, letting me go. Did he do it for me or for Mia? I may never know. Some day I'll thank him for the second chance.

My family.

So…

_"I live my life a quarter mile at a time. Nothing else matters- for those ten seconds or less I'm free. And hope that the next quarter of a mile brings me closer to home."_


End file.
